blue dots tried to keep retreating on mine
 

A good point. In my case, the rotary dial turned backwards as I released it, not staying at full cold. Conversely, in winter, it had no trouble effortlessly rotating to the full hot position, at 3-red-dots.

That's why I decided to force the cable to advance to 3-blue-dots, and jammed it in that position, to either stretch it back to normal length (if it had somehow become tangled?), or back into position (if it had come off-track?); it now turns in either direction more easily, and remains where I position it. I probably shouldn't have chanced breaking or stretching the cable, but I got aggravated on the 50F+ air coming out of the vents (I knew it was fully charged just before I took possession of the X5).

freedo- have you tried all adjustments, as shown in the user's manual? and tried all heater controls, too? Something may be stuck.

Good point. That may be why the OP's vent temperatures are a little different than mine when I had a similar problem.

I was surprised when it turned out I needed refrigerant, especially since we had checked the pressures a few months earlier, in the spring. I used to have to add most of a 7 oz R-134a can every two or three years. Now, I add some every year. I just finished off my original 20 oz can of AC Pro, so I've probably only been using it for three years. I'm going to switch to the high mileage version going forward. It has more leak sealant. They don't seem to sell the high mileage version with the charging hose, at least at Walmart.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Ac-Pro-A-...nces/444741999

I'm late to the game here but in many other bimmers, this same problem is often the HCV (heater control valves) and its EASY to remove from engine bay and open up to see if the rubber seals inside are disintegrated or not. in an e31, this is almost ALWAYS the culptit. I;'ve even opened min from e53 to to check, for preventative maintenance, and mine were gret, at the time. repair kits are sold on ebay and even sell with copper stems & cones, instead of the plastic stem cones (which the plastic stem breaks off the metal cone and the cone sticks in rubber valve seat). its very easy to do. and an HCV from 1991 is same design as an 2005. very simple.

Be very careful ordering these kits. I ordered one that was supposed to work, but the cones were not even close to the right size. I have a 2006 and suspect somewhere along the line a change was made in these valves.

In my opinion this actually sounds more like a problem with the heater control valve sticking open on full heat. The valve sticking open can easily cause the a/c system to be overpowered by the heater core being filled with hot coolant. I know the valves commonly fail on the E39 and I'm pretty sure the X5 uses the same valve. The fact that it sometimes can work it's way out by changing the temperature from max to min also makes me believe your heater valve may be on it's way out and beginning to stick in certain spots causing erratic heat.

It's also important to note that the HVAC control module with all the buttons have been known to fail although I believe it's less likely than the heater control valve to fail.

edit; also I think it's easier and more economical to just buy a new valve and replace the valve instead of trying to repair the valves and seals inside the unit. A quick amazon search yields a brand new one for $30 however it isn't OEM obviously but I don't think this is one of the components where an OEM part is necessary.

to the OP, it costs nothing to disconnect your HCV from the engine bay (a LITTLE bit of coolant will leak out, but not much) and then open the unit from the 6 screws. there are 2 sizes of screws (4 of one size, 2 of other), so watch out for what ones go back in which holes. carefully split the halves and then look at all rubber bits and cones inside. if all is good, there is a high probability tihs is not your issue. there could be electrical issues which are stopping the HCV fro working properly, but this usually seen by bad wires in the harness/connector of the car wiring, and not on the HCV directly.
watch a few youtube vids to gain knowledge/confidence.

sorry for the late reply everyone. so i took the center vents out and manually pushed the temp control to full cold and that made a difference in temp. getting much colder air. however it is still only coming out of the 4 dash vents. floor vents will blow full heat, rear vent for the center console blows full heat no matter which temp you have it set at (hot enough that it melted a casino card i had in the center console and will warm the drinks in the cup holder). and full heat for the floor vents under the seats. i got a new center console vent with the temp switches to see if that fixes that issue. i also bought 6 blend door motors to try and replace but i assume that requires full dash removal. i also have a non oem condensor fan that start to sound weak. it was the $200 ebay one instead of the $800+ oem replacement that i assume is causing the not great performance when idling. highway cruising it is noticeably cooler

That stratification flaps only works as heater core bypass affecting only the face vents. When the flap is closed all vents get the same air thru AC evaporator core and then heater core. If the flap is opened the air for face vents gradually bypasses heater core.

If temp setting is on min. the water valves should close the circulation to heater core. You can test if the hoses on the firewall are warm which they likely are. All pointing to failed heater valves or the control voltage from IHKA. (The valves are open on rest state.)

https://xoutpost.com/attachments/x5-...ation-flap.png

perfect. will give that a try later today. thanks.

after my commute home from work the 2 hoses going to the heater core were scorching hot (center console vent blows 140F when everything is set to full cold). looks like this maybe my problem. ordered a new one and hopefully installing this friday. if it ends up being the control voltage how would i diagnose that/fix it?